


Support Your Local Mayor

by AngelOfDeath10



Category: Naruto
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Western, Attempt at Humor, Awkward Romance, F/M, Romance, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:40:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28023315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelOfDeath10/pseuds/AngelOfDeath10
Summary: In which Naruto has the perfect doctor in mind when Suna finds itself in need of one. Gaara may be mayor but there's plenty that lies outside of his control, particularly one Sakura Haruno... but increasingly his own compulsions as well.
Relationships: Gaara/Haruno Sakura
Comments: 12
Kudos: 58





	Support Your Local Mayor

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: As per usual I don't own Naruto.
> 
> Written for the Holiday AU AU AU challenge, Day 11: Western.
> 
> I ran out of time so it isn't edited at all. It's the season of forgiveness?

There was a time when Suna aspired to be a one-horse town. When the silver mines were in full swing there were no families here so much as there were drunk men, loose women, and lots of money bursting at the seams. Then either desperation or hunger inspired a few of the less successful miners to realize that there was decently arable land nearby, and somehow not long thereafter sprang up a church and a schoolhouse on the opposite side of town from the saloons. The bank, general store, and laundry had always resided in the middle, giving the location a split personality overall that people largely ignored in favor of living the life they saw as true. In a generation, Suna somehow became an actual hub of miners and farmers living parallel but separate lives.

And the Sabaku family was always at the center of it all—overseeing and directing—occasionally meting out justice or loans. A Sabaku was always considered the unofficial mayor of this semi-lawless and uncomfortable patchwork of families and scoundrels until two years ago when they finally had a proper election. Gaara had expected Kankuro to sweep it as he holed up in his office above the bank and generally ignored the proceedings. He still suspected election fraud, but it would have been impossible to accuse blood of dodging responsibility so reprehensibly and so publicly and be taken seriously. They saved those moments for Sunday dinner. Great Aunt Chiyo was never one to hold back.

It was simpler before he was a politician. It was easier when he could walk into the saloon where a troublemaker was harassing people and crack heads and growl until people shut up and he had peace again. In fact, more often than not the sight of a bit of blood did a lot more to calm the grim crowing voice in the back of his head that told him to crack everyone's heads until he had all the peace in the world. Now that he wasn't a teen muddled with violent feelings those thoughts were unbecoming and he smothered them with duty and paperwork. People barely even avoided his gaze these days, and he wasn't sure that knowledge brought any more peace of mind than the alternative.

Naruto Uzumaki, the only person who he had ever fought to a bloody draw as kids and therefore could relate to, had similarly come into the mayoral office but of a much bigger town a number of miles away. If his correspondence was to be believed, they faced many of the same difficulties. People were essentially people everywhere, which was both a relief and a source of stress. Gaara knew that of all the men he could appeal to for help, Naruto would bend over backwards to come through and never judge him for the ask.

So, when Gaara had written to his peer for recommendations for a doctor when the town's only physician passed from a drinking habit that would have long ago pickled anyone else, Naruto had written back almost as fast as the mail coach could travel between their towns. He knew the perfect person! The most reliable and best trained doctor in all the territories, he wrote! And seeing as Konoha City had plenty of doctors on hand, he would gladly recommend this close personal friend Dr. Haruno to try out a temporary move to see if it would be a good fit.

The effusive praise for this doctor he'd never met made Gaara grit his teeth in that way that no doubt would lead to another tension headache. If this doctor were such a paragon, he'd likely leave Suna the moment he stepped out of the coach. Between mining accidents, bar fights, farming accidents, and a rising birth rate, a scrupulous doctor would be nothing but busy at wages that probably weren't attractive, in a town where one half the population ignored the existence of the other half.

All the same, it would be a relief to have the peace of mind that a doctor brought a town, even for a short time.

So, when Gaara was given word in his office above the bank that the coach that was coming from the direction of Konoha was nearing, he capped his fountain pen, rolled down the sleeves of his shirt, and brushed the imaginary lint from his maroon vest. As he grabbed his hat and squared his shoulders, he reminded himself that he needn't apply his usual intensity of personality to the newcomer. Kankuro, who was playing at sheriff's deputy somewhere in town right now was no doubt taking bets on if Gaara scared the new doctor out of town within the week. Unless people in Konoha City were telling tales of his past it was unlikely, but Kankuro would bet on any ridiculous thing.

Standing under the wooden canopy in front of the general store where he expected the coach to unload its passengers, Gaara nodded to passersby who quickly moved past him with mumbles of 'Mr. Sabaku.' It was a sight better than gasps and outright escape from proximity, which were the hallmarks of his volatile teen years, but people's memories around here were long. More than one family with peers roughly his age were missing teeth or could point to a formerly broken limb courtesy of the now relatively tame mayor. Gaara sighed quietly and checked his pocket watch for something to keep his mind from spiraling into the negative thoughts he was prone to having. It had been at least three years since he had broken that miner's jaw who had been harassing the saloon ladies, and he hadn't allowed himself such indulgent rampant violence after taking office.

The coach finally rolled in and pulled to a dusty stop. The driver was seeing to his duties as passengers were exiting. Two women and a man with a busy moustache were stretching their legs and saying polite farewells from whatever association they had made on the journey. One woman peeled off to a small gaggle of people who hugged her and immediately started talking about children's birthdays, relative health of people and livestock, and other domestic matters. The other woman moved around to the other side of the coach to retrieve her bag, and the man lit a cigar and cracked his back.

Gaara figured this was as good a moment as ever and emerged from his shaded spot with languid strides. "Dr. Haruno, I presume. Gaara Sabaku. If you'll follow me to your office, I can acquaint you with the essential details." Stiffly, he stuck out his hand as Kankuro had pressed into his brain that a firm handshake was essential to meeting new people and making a good impression. The whole process of it still made his skin crawl, and even though he could execute it with precision he knew he'd gripped too hard from the way the older man grimaced.

"Glad to meet you, sir, but I'm afraid you've got the wrong idea…"

"I'm Dr. Haruno." The feminine lilt held more than a little acid in it and Gaara felt his world wobble as he shifted pale green eyes over to where a woman in a simple sprigged cotton dress and an ugly but practical wide brimmed straw hat was tapping her booted foot. "I trust that's not a problem?"

She took two steps to eliminate the space between them and the older man fell back with a tip of his hat to her as she dropped her bags with metallic clanks and extended her own hand to Gaara. Reflexively, he took it, and it was Gaara's turn to stifle a grimace at the strength of her fingers against his own. This was Naruto Uzumaki's genius doctor friend? Well, if so then his fellow mayor owed an explanation why their correspondence had neglected to mention a rather important detail about said doctor.

"You mentioned an office? I have a trunk behind the coach, but that's just clothes. The important things are here." She gestured down to the two large leather bags with handles at either side of her body. "Think those men currently gawking at us from that porch over there would be available to act as porters for the trunk?"

Gaara recognized a couple of workers at the general store and as he made eye contact he felt them melt quickly back into obscurity. No help was coming from any quarter it seemed. The new lady doctor was all his to deal with.

"I'll arrange your trunk to be brought to you… Dr. Haruno." He paused long enough that he knew she would perceive it as rude, but it hadn't been on purpose. The urge to call her 'Miss' was ingrained into his psyche. "If you'll follow me to your office." He bent to pick up one of her bags and at least provide a veneer of civility despite feeling non-plussed and wondered if his arm was going to separate from the socket at the weight.

The doctor for her own part seemed to easily pick up the other bag and finally gave a smile that lit up her face and startled Gaara with the passing realization that she was pretty. That was a worrying thought for a couple reasons—the first being that there were still plenty of silver miners in this town that might think she was easy prey, and the second being that recognition of a lady's looks was out of character for him.

Luckily for his rotator cuff, it was a short walk to the doctor's office as it was as close to the center of town as anything could be. In fact, it was a stone throw from the bank and he would be able to see everyone that went in and out from his vantage point in the second story. Oddly, despite his irritation, he was feeling protective of the lady. If nothing else, Naruto would be angry if his childhood friend were run out of town for the audacity of being an unexpected gender. Gaara wasn't trying to start a feud with the blond or Konoha City in general.

After he took out the small key from his pocket that had been used to lock the door, he dropped the bag just inside and turned to Dr. Haruno. Already, the woman was striding through the office in a proprietary manner, opening the blinds and letting in the early afternoon light so she could get a sense of the space she had to work with. There were dusty shelves with all sort of bottles (only some of which were labeled), a large table big enough for a person to lie down on, a few mismatched chairs in various states of disrepair, and a desk in the corner. The sigh that swept dust into the air matched Gaara's assessment of the space.

"Well, Mr. Mayor, judging from the smell your last doctor has either been dead a long time or he wasn't that interested in keeping a clean space." She swept the ugly hat from her head and a tightly coiled bun of pink hair added an air of delicacy to her appearance that she immediately hid behind stern facial expressions.

Gaara didn't feel like answering the implicit question had any value so continued his stiff rehearsed announcements. "You'll be given a monthly stipend for the upkeep of the office and living expenses. What you choose to charge your patients is at your own discretion. If I can have your name, I can finish the documents to establish your account at the bank this afternoon."

"Sakura." She dusted her hands after picking up a particularly crusty looking bottle. She had sniffed the contents with a wrinkle to her nose that Gaara found disgustingly endearing. "Sakura Haruno. Looks like I have a couple days of work at least to make this place acceptable for visitors. Please let the town know I'll be accepting patients in two days after I've sanitized my office. Unless there are emergencies?"

Shaking his head, Gaara held out his hand with the key and this time as their hands brushed a shiver caused goosebumps to break out down his arms despite the stuffy heat of the space. His stomach felt like it had fallen into his shoes, but you'd never know from his monotone delivery.

"Welcome to Suna, Dr. Haruno."

*  
*  
*

He was going to hell, or was possibly already there, as given the life he'd lived up until this point it seemed plausible that forces would be conspiring to set fire to his soul. Gaara swallowed thickly and tried not to let his darting eyes fixate on the dark window across the street. Much to his chagrin he had discovered his office had a direct line of sight into the bedroom window of the doctor. There was a sitting room upstairs as well as her bedroom, but as it so happened the good doctor had not had a chance to renovate all her rooms and the thin shade was backlit by her lamp at night.

The past three nights as she got ready to go to sleep at an hour late enough to be called early, Gaara had been privy to a silhouette that was burned so deeply into his eyeballs that he saw it when he closed the lids. From the curve of her back to the elegant sweep of arm as she would let her hair down before the light went off… depending on the angle sometimes it was her waist or her bust as she put on her dressing gown and bent over to put out the lamp. A gentleman wouldn't have looked, but Gaara didn't have pretensions of decency simply the veneer of it that a title required.

She had worked late all week to improve the state of the office while spending the daytime getting to know the surrounding people and integrate as well as she could into the community. It was more than Gaara had ever done, but then he had grown up here and anyone who didn't know his name was probably too young to have been taught fear. Meanwhile, Gaara always worked late to the point where the long couch pushed to the back wall of his office was probably a more reliably used bed for him than the one in the large house that now only contained himself and occasionally Kankuro. It had been rather on the empty side since Temari was married off and moved to Konoha City.

The good doctor wasn't married, or engaged. He had heard two women talking in the general store as he purchased ink to replace what had been spilled the first night he had seen her silhouette in the window and unconsciously leaned over his desk so far that he knocked his inkwell and a whole stack of papers from the corner of it. That shirt had been ruined, and as he pulled a new one from the small chest of drawers that held any number of useful items a person who almost never stopped working to go home would need (shaving implements, alcohol, jerky, cologne, small caliber ammunition, etc.), Gaara wondered how long he would be unbalanced by this woman.

"You look like you lost a fight, Mr. Mayor." Sakura happened to come into the bank to deposit the savings she had brought with her from Konoha and Gaara had been speaking with the manager about some mistakes he had found in the accounting the previous night. He wasn't sure if it was like her to be a busybody, but her professional concern was unwelcome.

"I assure you, this is how I always look." It was a lie. His rusty red hair was such a rat's nest that a handful of pomade couldn't even tame it sufficiently and the dark circles he had always lived with around his eyes were even more prominent. It was all her fault, but Gaara would rather perish from lack of proper rest than to admit it to her.

"Naruto told me you were all work, and that I should encourage you to take better care of yourself. The people of this town need you to be strong and with all your faculties, Mr. Mayor."

Childhood friends, Gaara reminded himself. Naruto was Naruto and he was 'Mr. Mayor.' It would be improper to be anything else to a woman he didn't know but whose body outline he could probably draw from memory after a week of illicit voyeurism. Looking at her made his teeth hurt and he forced his jaw to unclench as he was made aware of the tension.

"Your concerns are noted, Doctor." Everyone in the bank was currently pretending disinterest in their interaction but absolutely listening in, so he forced himself to add something gracious. "I hope your time in Suna has been satisfactory thus far. Has anyone given you any trouble?"

There would be no way she would have understood the collective holding of breath waiting to see if she named names. "My introductions have been satisfactory. The people of Suna are as your sister described them to me, dignified and reserved."

His sister, Temari Nara, nee Sabaku. Another name that was going on a suspiciously long list of people who seemed to have been aware of Sakura Haruno and saw fit to tell him nothing ahead of her arrival. How many people were laughing at his expense before he went all in on a woman doctor to provide vital services for his town?

"Please let me know when you're first called to the saloons. The miners may prove less… reserved."

"That sounds like concern, Mr. Mayor. I assure you I know how to take care of myself, though the sentiment is noted." Not appreciated, Gaara immediately picked on her phrasing. Something about her hands fisted at her sides and canny glances told him she considered his normal attempts at courtesy somehow challenging to her pride.

That night as she changed, Sakura got her hair stuck on a button or some such and the shadow play of the contortions she put her body through to maneuver herself out of her dress were so perversely inspiring that Gaara pushed aside his work and poured himself a drink instead. He wasn't this sort of man. The alcohol was kept for the purposes of placating Kankuro when he stopped by the office to complain or cajole, but his hand was shaking as he poured himself a second drink to follow the first.

*  
*  
*

Gaara didn't so much as glance Kankuro's way when the door burst open and booted feet landed on the corner of his desk. There was a reason he had stopped propping anything of value in that spot, and while it was a bit soft of him to allow such familiarity from anyone he supposed it was testament to the fact that he was trying to be personable since he was elected caretaker of this blasted town.

"You're never going to guess what I'm about to tell you."

He wasn't about to try, so continued to write out the letter he had been drafting to Naruto in which he was diplomatically trying to hint that perhaps Dr. Haruno had been an act of subversion rather than mercy.

"It's about the lady doctor, if that piques your interest a little more."

The ink blot that he had just made on the paper was hard to hide, but Gaara could distract attention away from that by meeting Kankuro's smug smile with a composed neutrality. The part-time sheriff's deputy was not fooled, however, and the twinkle in his brother's eye made Gaara want to smack him hard enough to joggle some teeth. He took a deep breath and continued to hold unblinking eye contact.

"So, Baki and me were just coming back into town after looking into that fence moving business again that those farmers by the western hill are always on about when some dusty looking miners run up all in a panic. Seems the doctor finally took a trip to the saloon to have a drink and shake hands, or whatever fool's errand she was planning in that hole." Kankuro cleared his throat a couple times and raised his eyebrows in question so Gaara pulled out the whiskey and a glass and placed it between them. With a beaming smile, Kankuro resumed his tale. "So turns out things had been mostly peaceful and everyone was largely ignoring the fact that she was a woman when Gando saunters in fresh from his claim with a pocket full of money to burn and a mind to throw his weight around."

Shirogane was bad news at the best of times. Gaara already knew this story didn't have a happy ending, but the way Kankuro was smiling he wondered.

"Turns out he didn't take kindly to a modern lady like our new doctor and tried to intimidate her into leaving the saloon. And when that didn't work, after some words were exchanged, he tried to grab her and make her leave." Kankuro took a sip of his drink for dramatic effect. Gaara wished he would get to the point now that all his nerves were engaged. "That's when the stories get a little muddled about what happened next, but everyone agreed she did some sort of fancy move no one's ever seen before and next thing you know Gando is on his ass with a dislocated arm and our pretty little doctor is standing over him asking if she needs to dislocate the other one too!"

Something in Gaara's soul got very still, pushing down the braying cries to go break Shirogane's legs. Turns out Sakura was fully capable of doing whatever it was she needed to do to defend herself, even against a man twice her size. In his heart a spark of congratulatory appreciation flickered where it should not have lived.

"Seeing as she pushed it back in 'free of charge' as she put it, and then paid for a bed at the saloon for two weeks for him while he recovered a bit… well Baki figured there wasn't much use for us at the saloon so we might as well head back to the lock up. But before that I figured this was something you oughtta hear from someone in the know before the rumors turn into tall tales."

After chattering on a while longer about fences and arguing farmers, and drinking another glass of whiskey, Kankuro finally made his way out to no doubt run his mouth and spread the story of the mad doctor further. By supper everyone in a three-mile radius would know what happened. While no doubt she'd claim her actions fully justified—and he'd most likely agree—Gaara did now need to go talk to the doctor and remind her that her primary duty was to heal injuries not cause them.

Lying in wait, Gaara periodically watched the entrance across the street as he pulled out a new sheet of paper to restart his correspondence to Naruto about the menace Konoha City had let loose in Suna.

*  
*  
*

It was near midnight again when Dr. Haruno wearily dragged herself and a bag of tools across the threshold of her office, and Gaara allowed her enough time to clean her tools, drink a cup of something in her sitting room, and finally put up her no longer booted feet before he braced himself and left the safety of his office. Maybe she wouldn't answer the door and he'd have to discharge this duty at a more suitable hour of the day, but by the time it occurred to him that normal people didn't visit this late at night without an emergency she had already nearly flown down the stairs to open the door with a red face and a haphazardly tied bun of pink hair.

"What's the—oh it's you."

The concern that had lit her eyes went out and all that was left was barely contained patience with a heap of exhaustion. Her hair partially slumped to the side, partially obscuring her right eye and seemingly mimicking her disappointment.

"May I come in, Dr. Haruno, it won't take long."

"I've certainly noticed how efficient you prefer to keep your communication style, don't you worry, Mr. Mayor." She stepped aside and walked over to pull the chair away from the small desk and plant herself in it. Straightening up her posture a bit more and blinking hard against her own tiredness she crossed her arms and gave Gaara a look. "There's another long day ahead of me tomorrow and unlike you, apparently, I actually need some sleep to refresh my mind, so please let me know how I've no doubt displeased you this time."

That was not… That is to say he had never intended for her to think his professional duties reflected any sort of personal feelings. "Displeasure is not how I would express the motivation behind this visit."

"Everyone in this town walks on eggshells around you so I only assumed you came here to scold me or threaten my position just because I taught one ornery so and so a lesson. It won't be the first time a man has threatened to put hands on me and I promise you, Mr. Mayor, there's precedent and reason behind my methods."

Her boots hadn't even been tied up from her initial race down the satirs and as she tapped a toe on the ground absently, he found himself distracted by the movement of the laces. "How long does a dislocated shoulder take to heal?"

The question seemed to catch her off guard and her posture loosened a bit. "A few months for full recovery. Likely he'll be able to do most things in a couple weeks though, other than heavy lifting."

Gaara sighed. "And how is a miner, Dr. Haruno, supposed to avoid heavy lifting or frequent shoulder movements? Your point has been made, however what you have supplied for his care is probably not balanced compensation. And if nothing else, I desire a fair outcome."

Sniffing, unable to meet his eyes, Sakura instead untied her messy hair and let it fall around her shoulders and down her back. Gaara held his standing posture more stiffly, hoping she didn't notice his sudden intake of breath.

"I see your point, but what else would you have me do when a man attempts to lay hands on me aggressively? Self-defense is important for a woman in my profession."

"I strongly agree with you, Dr. Haruno, but unless you're bringing charges against Mr. Shirogane, he continues to be a part of this town and I don't possess the luxury of only defending people I find acceptable." There was something like shock in her expression, as her posture dropped its defensiveness. "I believe you understand, given your line of work."

Oddly, Sakura began to laugh. Gaara, who had been bracing for more anger from her, felt even less at home around the suddenly more friendly version of this woman he was experiencing alarming levels of attraction for.

"Care for a drink? I brewed some chamomile tea just a moment ago and it's probably still warm." Sakura stood up from her chair and brushed past him on her way to the stairs. She had been so close the fabric of her skirt had briefly pressed against his leg and he could feel a shiver careening through his body in response. Ever a woman of action, she hadn't waited for his reply before she already returned and pressed a fine china cup into his hand. She gestured towards another chair. "Drink the whole cup, doggonit, we both need a better night's sleep and this will help."

They sipped the lukewarm tea and Gaara wondered something aloud that normally he would have kept to himself. Later he would blame his unusually sparse and incomplete sleep patterns. "Why Suna?"

The silence stretched thin before she sighed.

"You needed a doctor. I'm a damned fine one." She didn't say it in an exaggerated matter, merely the factual statement of her skillset. "I also found myself in a personal situation that made relocation attractive. Perhaps I'm feeling rather more emotional about male disrespect because of it, not that I haven't had to prove myself every inch of the way to your sex at any rate. I figured you were coming here to release me from employment tonight, citing hysteria or some other made-up female weakness."

Volatile, proud, dangerous. He liked Sakura more in this moment than when he was idly imagining her naked body entwined with his own.

"Weakness is not what comes to mind when I think of you, Dr. Haruno."

The cup that she quickly raised to her lips might have hidden her smile, but it did nothing to obscure the blush across her cheeks.

*  
*  
*

Hippocratic oath or no, Sakura looked like she was coming here to murder him. A certain part of him knew she was well within her rights once she suddenly drew up her shade and saw him standing at his window, drink in hand, clearly doing nothing but staring into her bedroom as had become his shameful late-night habit. Kankuro would have ducked down, or yelled something humorous across the way to divert suspicion but Gaara was not his brother and while he had not even an ounce of shame regarding his voyeurism, he also understood it was perverse. So rather than let Sakura break into the bank, he met her at the entrance and unlocked the door so that she could sweep past him regally in a dressing gown and slippers.

Keeping a few steps back in case she rounded on him and struck him down the staircase, they undertook a tense march into his office. With a twist of humor, he watched as she pointedly drew his window blinds down and dropped the curtains.

"A month ago, you brought up a particular subject to me when I taught that miner a lesson. How, and this answer had best be exceptional, do you intend to compensate me for the loss of my dignity, Mr. Sabaku." It was immeasurably worse to hear her use his name than the now joking tone she used when she called him mayor. They hadn't quite grown familiar to one another, in his opinion, but he would greet her after church services every Sunday and hadn't he gone out of his way to make sure the new furniture for her office was re-built when it arrived broken from her office in Konoha City? To see to it the grocer and the laundress prioritized her orders? To make sure Kankuro didn't gossip about her any more than was expected? "I had told myself when I found you staring at my bedroom at a very specific time of night not long ago that it was coincidence, but after varying the times at which I retired lo and behold the honorable mayor just so happened to find himself at the window that by some strange chance aligns with my bedroom.

"I also took the liberty of speaking with your sibling who told me that you barely slept in your own bed any longer, and while he didn't initially find that unusual he did remark that you had been away rather a lot in the past couple months." Her green eyes broke him down, reminded him of darker days in which he would take what he wanted and public opinion be damned.

Hair down around her shoulders, words snapping around the room, Gaara considered her demand for reparations and came to what he felt was a course of action dramatic enough to satisfy her.

"You're right. I owe you a debt of honor." Pulling his silver tie pin out first, he set it aside as he loosened the knot and folded the dark cloth carefully. He liked that tie. Next it was the cufflinks and the buttons on his deep navy vest, which he was able to fully shrug off before Sakura's brain seemed to catch up with his intentions.

"What in heaven's name do you think you're doing!" Her words were strangled.

Gaara was working down the buttons of his shirt as he answered smoothly. "You mentioned fairness. It's only fair that you compromise my dignity as well." Pulling the hem of the loose shirt out of his pants, he started to work at his belt when Sakura pounded a closed fist on the edge of his desk to get his attention.

"I have seen a man's naked body before, sir, though I'll admit this is one of the damndest ways a man has had the audacity to…." There was a noise that slid through her lips that sounded like a cross between a growl and a gurgle. "Your nakedness doesn't compensate me in any way, when what you clearly enjoyed from the safety of your office has never been witnessed by any man in my acquaintance bar one. And I'd kill him now if I thought he'd tell anyone."

Gaara calmly let his shirt fall, choosing to bare more than his skin if it might calm her fury. "No woman has ever seen me in so much as rolled up shirt sleeves, but if it eases your mind I'll be the first to report to the whole town next Sunday at the beginning of the pastor's sermon my misdeeds."

Despite her claim that his partial nakedness was of no consequence to her, Sakura was clutching at the edges of her dressing gown and pulling it close. Every so often her eyes would flicker down to his undone belt and she would go a little redder while her back would become a little straighter.

"You would shame yourself in front of everyone you ever knew just to appease me?" She took a step closer to him, now only an armlength away, and Gaara wondered if she was preparing to dislocate his arm. "What precisely will you tell them?"

Wondering if he was reading the mood right, since he wasn't precisely a good weathervane when it came to normal human stimuli, Gaara casually let his shirt drop behind him to join his vest on the floor. "I would tell them that an accident became a habit. That I was fully within my faculties and aware that I needed to stop, but that I didn't have the fortitude. That my improper actions were goaded on by equally improper feelings. That I don't deserve, but will still ask for, your forgiveness, Dr. Haruno."

As she moved forward with intent, Gaara wondered if he would be able to let her harm him before his natural defenses kicked in. He didn't want to hurt her, above all, but it had been so long since he had ben tested he wasn't sure he would have that restraint. But in his moment of hesitation as he felt her strong hands grip his shoulders, it was the soft press of her lips against his that stopped his own violent reaction and the hands that were prepared to throw her to the ground instead slid from her upper arms to her back in a hesitant caress.

"Sakura." They were still so close he could feel her say her own name. "When we're alone I'd like it if you called me Sakura."

They kissed again, and it was as sweet as the first time to him but so different as now he could hear the blood rushing in his ears as his heartbeat began to race. Too soon, she pulled away from him and it took physical effort on his part not to grab onto her and move her body flush against his once more.

Clearing her throat loudly, Sakura took another step back and waggled a finger in his direction. "If you keep your word and debase yourself in front of the town for my sake, then perhaps I can find it in my heart to forgive you for being a degenerate. Maybe together we can settle on a treatment plan to reform you."

Her eyes flickered down to his belt once more but now that he had some undeniable physiological effects resulting from their embrace, she seemed unable to meet his eyes again with the same hauteur.

"Until this Sunday then." She gave the barest of nods in his direction while focusing on a point past his shoulder. "Gaara."

"Sakura." He responded with as much courtesy as if they had encountered one another on the street, and watched her exit his office with deep regret. It was not the time to press this issue. She had as good as promised a reprise if he was willing to declare his sin to all and sundry.

Not even his impending public shaming could suppress the happiness in his heart at what would no doubt be a treatment plan that both he and the good doctor would find mutually satisfying.


End file.
